| lesley153
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I stopped wondering, Gary. I just reckon that the bigger the charity, the bigger the expense cut. I've heard stories from people who worked in Africa, seeing people from the likes of Oxfam flying in, booking into four-star hotels, buying themselves Landrovers, using 5% of their budget to dig a couple of wells, and jetting home.
Postie, I didn't know that. I suppose they have to be paid somehow, so it makes sense that their reward would be a cut of their results. Hers was probably 23%!
I'm sure a good fund-raiser is probably worth her weight in gold, but I don't think the woman who phoned me was worth much. What's the point of rehydration salts with no clean water to mix them with? No answer. Where will the water come from? Pass. Are you building wells? Don't know. They probably are, but surely these are basic questions and she should have had an answer?
Perhaps it doesn't matter. Perhaps people will hear key words like children dying, and that's all it needs.
There's a lot of basic information people won't query. I know I didn't. Not until five minutes ago, when Amazon showed me (in the middle of the shoes!) a box of six Dioralyte sachets, normal price 64p a sachet, offer price 59p. So why would an outfit like Unicef, which must have massive buying power, need to pay 69p a sachet?
These days I'm more likely to give individuals money for food, or whatever they say they want it for, than a monthly sum to a faceless corporation. |
Reply #5381. Feb 08 13, 6:40 PM
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postcards2go 
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"These days I'm more likely to give individuals money for food, or whatever they say they want it for, than a monthly sum to a faceless corporation"
LOL, Lesley... About 25 years ago, I was walking down a streeet in Manhattan, and saw what looked like a poor, homeless person about 50 feet ahead of me. I quickly got out a dollar, so i could pass it to him as I passed by. Fortunately (for me, at any rate), someone ahead of me had the same thought. Upon offering the 'offering' he was loudly berated for his intended charity. I pocketed my dollar and kept walking :-p
Reply #5382. Feb 08 13, 6:53 PM
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| lesley153
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| What a great story! How often does a stranger save you money? :D |
Reply #5383. Feb 08 13, 8:48 PM
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| lesley153
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Just popping in for a moan, for a change.
I've been addicted to Brazil nuts for a few years, and decided I liked Crazy Jack brand best. They have the best flavour, and they're crisp. It used to be easy enough to buy them, but they disappeared off the shelves at Tesco, then Sainsbury, to be replaced by own brands, which were OK, but really not that good.
I've been getting them with my online shopping for a year. They're the same price but haven't got the same flavour or fresh snap, and recently have been positively rubbery.
Oh look - I can get them online! I went a little bit mad and ordered ten bags, plus a few other things to make it up to £40, the minimum for free carriage.
Yesterday I got an email. They can only send me nine bags (would I like a credit or a refund?), the parcel has been dispatched, and here is the tracking number. I plugged the 18-digit tracking number into the courier's website. "Not valid." "Please enter your 12-digit tracking number."
At about 9.25 this morning, I heard a lot of banging and crashing, but ignored it, because there is some building going on next door, it didn't sound like it was my front door that was being broken down, and I didn't hear a doorbell. Eventually I saw someone shuffling across the road, possibly from next door, into an unmarked white van that was so dirty it looked like it was two-tone. No, no self-respecting courier would use a filthy unmarked van. Must be something to do with the builder.
At 1050 I phoned the company for a valid tracking number. My order is recorded as having been delivered at 0922, signed for by Watt. Huh? I don't know anyone called Watt. Have you got a house number? No. "I'll get in touch with the courier and call you back."
At 1150 I rang and listened to their music for a few minutes, before I gave in and left a message. Any news gratefully accepted.
It is now 1300 and I am starting to wonder why I bother... Just hope I get the parcel while I still care. Rephrase - just hope I get the parcel. |
Reply #5384. Feb 15 13, 7:02 AM
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| lesley153
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Mystery solved. "Watt" lives in my garden shed.
I decided to double-check the hall floor for a card telling me where it had been delivered, and then realised that there was a card, poking out of the letter box so that it would be visible from the outside but not inside.
The parcel is now retrieved from the shed. I have phoned to company I ordered it from, and eaten a few Brazil nuts. I have not been disappointed.
It's a good thing people can cope with simple machinery, like lorries, and industrial food slicers, but not really surprising that they go to pieces when confronted with the really challenging stuff, like coat hangers, light switches, and letter boxes. |
Reply #5385. Feb 15 13, 7:47 AM
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Professer
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Thats not good really Lesley you pay fopr a service and expect to recieve the service, It reminded me of a friend and my story sent her a xmas card and gift cards for her and family in a brown envelope, sent it recorded delivery so had to be signed for, i used tracking number and found it had been delivered, so rang my friend and said glad the thing i sent had arrived she told me it had not i said they said it has when i checked tracking so she said shed ring back in a minute or too , When she rang back she told me she had gone to check with a neighbour and fond the brown enevelope in her flower bed between hers and neighbours, and to maker matters worse the post man had broken her letter box pushing through a thicker package then mine. I contacte d post office and they said get your friend to ring me and gave me a direct line number, and that they would investigate how a recorded package had been dropped in a flower bed and get back to me.
End result the postie was suspended for messing with her majestys mail, and my friends letter box was replaced at the expense of the post office.
It really annoys me when we pay for a service and it is not delivered.Glad your enjoying your Brazil nuts.
Reply #5386. Feb 15 13, 9:00 AM
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| lesley153
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Good for the PO for accepting responsibility, and acting.
Probably the most irritating thing this morning was having to phone, holding on listening to snippets of antediluvian pop, and not getting called back. When I found the parcel, I rang again (Mungo Jerry: in the Summertime; Beatles: I'll Follow the Sun), got through to a human being, and said "so you can stop ignoring me now" as he said "thank you for letting me know - we can stop looking now."
He also said that a dirty, unmarked van doesn't sound very professional, and I can choose how it's delivered. As well as the cheapo delivery service they used today, they can also use a fully-tracked Royal Mail service, which will come with the post - after lunch - and not crack of dawn.
It's the first time I've dealt with the company and it wasn't the best start. Still, their stock and prices are good, so I'll probably order from them again, and hope they're better second time round.
It was worth it for the nuts. Oh my goodness they are delicious! |
Reply #5387. Feb 15 13, 10:09 AM
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| lesley153
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When I got my new glasses, reading (OK) and distance (wonky till I'd visited four times and was ready to sit in till they put them right), the optician suggested, with a straight face, that I might like to consider getting a third pair for using the computer. Son said that's like getting a third pair of shoes for crossing the road.
Fell downstairs this morning, put kettle on, picked right lens up off floor. Better on quarry-tiled floor than in the road, I suppose: just. Put on old reading glasses, which were on top of the microwave (best place for them) to help me think, and discovered that the screen was now ten times easier to read.
Managed to get the little screw back - need three hands - couldn't find a fine screwdriver but thumbnail worked. Decided to put on shiny new reading glasses. Mistake. The screen is now a blur unless my nose is a foot from the screen. Looks like I now have my third pair of glasses, without buying them.
Just remembered, I hadn't had the shiny new reading glasses long, perhaps used them five times, when a screw fell out. How confidence-inspiring is that?
First thing tomorrow I'm going to buy a third pair of shoes for crossing the road. I may also pop in and pay a friendly visit to the opticians. They're always pleased to see me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I have three facebook friends with a birthday today (is that a record?), one local and two FT.
Happy birthday callie_ross and happy birthday jojanne1974! |
Reply #5388. Feb 17 13, 6:32 AM
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Professer
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Hope they sort the glasses out Lesley i have had 5 friends in 4 days with birthdays and a 6th on wednesday all on FB thank heavens for e cards only had to send two shop bought ones
Reply #5389. Feb 18 13, 2:47 PM
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| lesley153
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Just realised my last post didn't make sense - did anyone notice? No, thought not. My shiny new reading glasses make the screen a blur, but the old pair, the pair that were living on the microwave, made it OK and the keyboard much more comfortable. So they're my third pair, and they now live on the computer desk.
Visited my one-handed friend, who is excited because her plaster is coming off on Wednesday.
Then I wandered into town, and into the opticians. The frontman greeted me by name and said they hadn't seen me for a while. Ha!
He took them away and returned them five minutes later, having replaced the screws on both sides with screws with a lock tight thread. That's the type of thread, he said, and nothing to do with the glue. If that nopw guarantees that the screws won't fall out again, it would make sense to dispense with the little ones and put secure ones in as soon as the lenses are fitted. |
Reply #5390. Feb 18 13, 4:59 PM
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bob114
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Boy, do I feel like a nerd!
Lesley, please forgive me as I thought I had made a post on your blog. I shall no longer be a stranger.
If you ever lose a screw, now I mean in your glasses, you can use a small paper clip as a temporary fix. Used to do it all the time at the Nursing Home where I worked. A short piece through the holes and twist with small pliers and ok until proper fix can be done.
See you soon my friend.
Bob
Reply #5391. Mar 08 13, 9:51 PM
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| lesley153
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Welcome, Bob!
Sorry I've only just seen this. I'd more or less given up looking for new posts, and I thought I'd been talking to myself for long enough.
Paperclip - that's a wonderful idea. Just think, a bit of elastoplast on the hinges, and I could look like Jack Duckworth!
Glossary: Jack Duckworth was a soap character whose broken glasses were held together for years with sticky plasters. |
Reply #5392. Mar 10 13, 1:58 PM
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Jazmee27
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Oh, wow :) One thing after another...
Reply #5393. Mar 10 13, 4:10 PM
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satguru
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Keep writing, comment or not I always like to see what you've been doing, Merv was just a bonus!
Reply #5394. Mar 10 13, 4:12 PM
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| lesley153
|
Thanks David, that's very flattering, but I do have a problem with the "or not" part. I can't tell the difference between nobody stopping to comment, and nobody stopping to read, and I simply don't enjoy writing into a vacuum.
I enjoy writing to get a reaction; to spark debate, and chat. Writing without feedback is pointless and dispiriting.
Oddly, I've found that some of the posts I've found more difficult to write have met with little response, and some very difficult ones have been met with silence.
Could this be why Cym has given up on FT? after years of believing that FT was like a family, she made what might have been the most difficult revelation of her life, and was all but ignored? A few years ago, I am confident that her heartbreaking news would have been met with a tidal wave of support and sympathy. We're the same people but I think FT has changed.
Thanks, Bob, for the oxygen. :) |
Reply #5395. Mar 10 13, 5:50 PM
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bob114
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I just looked up Bill Tarmey, who played Jack Duckworth on Coronation Street. He past away last November. A photo of him shows him wearing glasses with the Elastoplast on them.
Perhaps he never heard of paper clips?
Reply #5396. Mar 10 13, 5:57 PM
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| lesley153
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| Unless he used paperclips to tag his pigeons, or to hold his betting slips together, I don't suppose he would have had much use for them. :) |
Reply #5397. Mar 10 13, 6:54 PM
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Jazmee27
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“I can't tell the difference between nobody stopping to comment, and nobody stopping to read, and I simply don't enjoy writing into a vacuum.”
I concur.
“I enjoy writing to get a reaction; to spark debate, and chat. Writing without feedback is pointless and dispiriting.”
Couldn’t have said it better.
Reply #5398. Mar 10 13, 8:14 PM
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| lesley153
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| Thanks, J. I don't know how you (and David) find the motivation to keep writing with little or no input. Sheer optimism, I suppose! |
Reply #5399. Mar 10 13, 9:07 PM
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channe
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I shall try to comment more often. I do read your blog, but rarely say so. Sorry.
You are correct though,many of the familiar coomenters have been absent. What happened to Cym, isn't she the ex-patriot Brit who has lived in Canada for yonks?
Happy blogging.
chris
Reply #5400. Mar 10 13, 11:52 PM
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